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OLG is embarking on a revitalization plan built on a trio of complementary pillars: a strong focus on customers, expanded private sector by regulating private sector operations, and a renewed role overseeing lottery and gaming in the Province.

An improved customer focus will result in new and enhanced gaming sites, both at brick and mortar locations and eventually online. This means not just more excitement for customers, but additional responsibilities upholding Ontario’s Responsible Gambling Standards., Expanding the role of the private sector to include day-to-day operations allows OLG to concentrate on its most important function: being the operating mind of gaming in Ontario, maintaining an innovative Responsible Gambling Program and ensuring game integrity. Two recent technological advancements are helping to achieve these important objectives: Facial Recognition and DART (Data Analysis and Retrieval Technology).

Recognized by the World Lottery Association (WLA) with the highest certification for excellence, OLG is committed to applying even greater focus to the prevention and mitigation of problem gambling, including education, encouraging healthy play habits, and supporting problem gamblers. OLG’s Facial Recognition System is part of a self-exclusion strategy at OLG sites.

The system digitally scans the faces of each person who enters an Ontario casino, and then runs the image through a database of images of individuals who have voluntarily put themselves on a banned list. The database is centrally stored, so if someone has excluded themselves from one site, they’re excluded from all.

Disguises don’t fool the system: it uses bone structure and specific facial metrics such as the distance between eyes and nose, so hats, glasses, and wigs are no use. In the event of a match, the system notifies in-house security, who then double-check to ensure there is no false identification before approaching the self-excluded person. If there’s no match, the facial image is discarded.

The system was meticulously designed by University of Toronto biometric engineers with privacy as a top priority. The data is encrypted so there is no permanent link between the facial images and a person’s private information, so if the data were to fall into the wrong hands, it’s useless. Because it doesn’t rely on checking identification, the system ensuresthe vast majority of customers — those casual players without addiction problems — to maintain their privacy.

Following a 2009 audit commissioned by OLG and conducted by a third party that recommended enhanced use of data analytics to find and combat fraud, DART was developed to enableOLG to quickly review billions of records for information that may help identify potentially fraudulent or other suspicious activity, taking only seconds to do what previously may have taken months: DART can analyze nearly 12 billion lottery transactions dating back to 1999 — printed on letter-size paper, the 3.5 terabytes of data in DART would circle Earth 13 times.

Until DART, the time involved scrutinizing potentially fraudulent activity was the biggest barrier to effectively combating fraud; the DART system has revolutionized the investigative process.

The system, which is the result of collaboration among OLG, HP, and Microsoft, identifies play patterns and can help OLG confirm winners. In the quest to eliminate fraud, DART’s contribution has allowed OLG to use these transactions to gain valuable insights.

In addition to helping maintain the integrity of its lotteries and protecting the interest of its customers, DART helps empower the public via a microsite called OLG Reports (www.olg.ca/reports), which provides consumers with valuable information on unclaimed tickets. All lottery wins of $1,000 or more are also posted to olg.ca.

As part of its commitment to transparency, complementary measures are also in place: retailers are not permitted to buy tickets at their own store, and must also validate winning tickets at another store; customers are protected by the necessity of signing lottery tickets before retailers can validate them, so only they can claim their prize; OLG lottery terminals have voice-over messages with distinct tones for winning and non-winning tickets, offering customers another confidence-inspiring measure, as does the ability to first check tickets at adjacent self-checkers at all terminal locations; lottery terminals freeze any time a customer validates a ticket worth $5,000 or more, so that OLG’s Customer Support Centre can make immediate contact and direct them how to claim their prize.

By employing such technically advanced measures as DART and the Facial Recognition System, OLG has secured its spot at the cutting edge of fair, secure, and responsible gaming. To learn more about how OLG is entering a new, customer-focused era that will making Ontario’s gaming destinations among the world’s finest, visit modernolg.ca.